Paul Walker • Apr 28, 2015 •
Further to my previous post I have now found a copy of the paper The Economist was talking about, “Lynchings, Labour and Cotton in the US South” (pdf) by Cornelius Christian.In the paper Christian notes that in the short term the advantage of lynchings to whites was via the labour market. The evidence presented … Read More
Paul Walker • Apr 23, 2015 •
It turns out that shares are more than 700 years old, at least. From the BBC website comes this picture of what is the oldest known share in a company. In 1288, Stora Enso issued this share giving a bishop an eighth of a copper mountain. Read More
James Zuccollo • Dec 27, 2014 •
Earlier this week the UK Government announced its new fiscal rule, which defines the fiscal envelope. For those of you who aren’t British, the deficit exceeded 10% of GDP during the recession and fiscal sustainability has become an important political issue, even for people who aren’t econ junkies! Unfortunately, this new rule is unlikely to […] … Read More
James Zuccollo • Dec 25, 2014 •
It’s taken me a month to read it but Deirdre McCloskey’s essay on Piketty’s Capital is just as persuasive as you’d expect. Print it and read it with your family over Christmas! The review doesn’t break any new ground but it is eloquent and engaging. Her central themes are: The Industrial Revolution and Great Enrichment […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Mar 20, 2014 •
In a recent interview with Piketty about his book Capital, the interviewer had some questions I found … strange: Your book fits oddly into the canon of contemporary economics. It focuses not on growth and its determinants, but on how the spoils of growth are divided. … For much of the last century, economists told […] … Read More
Matt Nolan • Jan 16, 2014 •
I had trouble getting out of bed this morning, so to help get me going I decided to read an essay about economics. And I ran back into a treat of an essay I think we should all read. This is Modern Economics and its Critics, 1: by Partha Dasgupta. His focus is explicitly on […] … Read More
Paul Walker • Jan 10, 2014 •
The concept of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) is based on the law of one price, where in the absence of transaction costs and official trade barriers, identical goods will have the same price in different markets when the prices are expressed in the sam... Read More
Paul Walker • Jan 08, 2014 •
Over history it would seem possible that weather shocks, which effect food supply, could affect the probability of peasant revolts. When food is in short supply peasants are more likely to revolt. While such a hypothesis may seem reasonable, is there a... Read More
Matt Nolan • Dec 07, 2013 •
I see the Pope made some comments about capitalism and social justice, and a bunch of economists were unhappy with this (Mankiw, Sumner) – or were unhappy with the way economists viewed the Pope’s comments. Note: This piece is a good discussion. My view is easily summarized. Meh. I grew up in a Catholic family, […] … Read More
Paul Walker • Oct 07, 2013 •
It is often assumed that the tulipmania was the result of financial market irrationality and the mania is often used as an example of said irrationality. These idea were popularised by Charles Mackay, a mid-19th century Scottish writer. Mackay is best known for his book, Extraordinary Popular Delusions and The Madness of Crowds. But was the tulipmania really all about … Read More